New year, new movie topic. Does anyone go to the movies anymore? I haven't been since Christmas, but I did get a chance to catch up on my Netflix yesterday since I am so not a sports fan.

Watched Viggo Mortenson and Nioami Watts in Eastern Promises. Pretty good movie. Viggo is nominated for an Oscar for this performance as a Russian mobster in London. This is from the same director who directed him in A History of Violence, for which he received critical acclaim last year or the year before. Very intense performances in this movie from Viggo, who plays the driver/clean-up guy, and from Armin Mueller-Stahl, who plays the mob boss. Viggo's character, Nikolai, works for him. (You might remember Armin Mueller-Stahl from the movie Shine. He played the father.) This movie is about the Russian mob and their trafficing of young girls from Eastern Europe into London as prostitutes. This movie is not for the faint of heart.

Hey Mary-

Yeah, we go at least twice a year

Actually did go to see the movie Mad Money- my wife was wanting to see it. Well, odd things happened....
First, it was a couple weeks ago, in the middle of one of our coldest days, even had a light snow going. 22 degrees or so. A water main broke, and not just a small one, but a massive 36 inch diameter one- water spewing like a fountain. All this was about a mile away from the theater. Well, we had just sat down, watched the previews, 5 minutes into the movie, and then everyone got evacuated from the building. Huge mess and very icy, around that break- fortunately we didn't have to go that way to leave the theater. They gave us free passes on the way out.
So, the next weekend, we used the passes and went back to see the same movie. It was OK, I guess, but not what I'd call great be any means. Light, funny, but I didn't like the ending. Let's just say nothing was learned.

Couple rentals were great-
First, a movie called Shattered, with Pierce Brosnan. I'm not a big fan of his, didn't care for his Bond versions, and a few others we've seen were not good. This one has a great story. I won't get into it, but if you enjoy psycho kidnappers, love triangles, and plenty of twists, you'll like it.
The other one was a Richard Gere called The Hunting Party. Plenty of political ennuendo, but most of it very true. Good story here also, with Gere as a washed up journalist tracking down the story of the century sort of thing.

Later
TY

Hello, I used to see a lot of movies at the theatre until a couple of years ago. I am going to see Bucket List tonight with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Should be interesting to see.

Forgot to mention, I saw Cloverfield a few weeks ago. It did indeed remind me of The Blair Witch Project because of the shaky hand held cam and the fact that the story was told in the first person. It wasn't great, but, all in all, I enjoyed it. There were a couple of really creepy scenes, like when they were walking through the pitch black subway tunnels while being pursued, and the scene from the commercial where the Statue of Liberty's head comes flying through the air, hits the ground, and rolls down the street like an enormous bowling ball. (Actually, that scene is very effective in conveying the size, power, and hostility of what they are facing.)

There were a couple of times while watching it that I thought of the events of 9/11. There was one scene in particular, when they were in the bodega hiding and you see an enormous cloud of dust coming up the street, and the power flickering. It looked like footage from 9/11.

well, have another good one for you. THe critics didn't like it too much, but hey....what do they know anyway. This one, by the way, is NOT recommended as a Valentine's chick flick. No way.

It's Jodie Foster's The Brave One. Warning, it's very brutal, somewhat sexy in the beginning, (may be a bit too much skin and breasts for kids or early teens) but done tastefully. I liked it enough to watch two times, so I could get more of the dialogue- it's a bit low volume at times.

I think she did a great job of realistically playing the victim/woman with a grudge, even though some of the scenes were a bit hard to believe. She gets thrust into a couple of situations, but then gets a taste for justice.

Don't want to say too much, no spoilers, but I found it to be captivating and intense. A couple spots, we had to pause it for a breath and to blink our eyes

Next on the list is Micheal Clayton, looking forward to that one in a week or so.

I haven't seen it and don't plan to unless I happen to be watching when it eventually makes its way to cable. However, I'm surprised to see that Rambo is STILL playing at our theater. Normally, it takes something along the lines of a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings to hold over this long. Unless there's some twisted contractual obligation to show it so many times, I guess this means there's still an audience for Rock ... er Sly Stallone action movies.
Can Arnold Revisits Conan the Barbarian be far behind?
And, hey, isn't it time Dirty Harry came out of retirement?

I think Clint Eastwood is doing very well in his second career as a director that he doesn't want or need to bring Dirty Harry out of retirement.

I agree, was just trying to think of some classic movie heroes who've been on the shelf a couple of decades.

Saw two rentals this week.

One was Dedication, with Mandy Moore.
I give it a C, maybe...it's called a romantic comedy, but seems more like an excuse to use foul language. But the characters were interesting, very quirky, very likeable/hateable, and had lots of funny moments in it. Overall, tho, it just didn't have much of a story to tell.

The other was called King of California, with Micheal Douglas. Another C, maybe a B- for the young girl actress, who did a great job of telling the story. Basically, Douglas is a mental patient just released, wife long gone, and the daughter has learned to fend for herself. It's a lot about father /daughter relationships, but it's pretty funny too, with the treasure hunt going on. You're constantly wondering if he's out of his mind, or really on to something.

later
TonyY

I watched 2 movies this weekend. The first was Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington. Wow! I really enjoyed this one although it started slow. I won't give away any spoilers but I will say the female character is absolutely beautiful!

The second movie is Chaos starring Jason Statham and Wesley Snipes. Another real good mystery with a surprising plot twist at the end. I don't recall this being in the theaters. Probably a 'straight to DVD' deal. Again, no spoilers but that I recommend both!